Campylobacter is the leading cause of bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide, and contaminated chicken is a significant vehicle for spread of the disease. This study aimed to assess consumers' knowledge of safe chicken handling practices and whether their expectations for food safety labelling of chicken are met, as a strategy to prevent campylobacteriosis.
We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 401 shoppers at supermarkets and butcheries in Wellington, New Zealand, and a systematic assessment of content and display features of chicken labels.
While 89% of participants bought, prepared or cooked chicken, only 15% knew that most (60-90%) fresh chicken in New Zealand is contaminated by Campylobacter. Safety and correct preparation information on chicken labels, was rated 'very necessary' or 'essential' by the majority of respondents. Supermarket chicken labels scored poorly for the quality of their food safety information with an average of 1.7/5 (95% CI, 1.4-2.1) for content and 1.8/5 (95% CI, 1.6-2.0) for display.
Most consumers are unaware of the level of Campylobacter contamination on fresh chicken and there is a significant but unmet consumer demand for information on safe chicken preparation on labels. Labels on fresh chicken products are a potentially valuable but underused tool for campylobacteriosis prevention in New Zealand.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 92. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 27 September 2024.
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#566,817
of 32,942,026 outputs
Outputs from BMC Public Health
#589
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#10,104
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Outputs of similar age from BMC Public Health
#17
of 326 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 32,942,026 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 20,629 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 15.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its peers.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 326 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 94% of its contemporaries.
